DEAL IN MINES AND MORALS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIII, Issue 13714, 3 April 1905, Page 10

DEAL IN MINES AND MORALS.

(By EDWARD W. TOWNSEND, in "The Cosmopolitan.") Being already cross, it annoyed Mortiniore Collins the more to know that he was followed. He turned on the man and exclaimed, " "Why are you following me?" The man first looked surpnsed. then smiled as one who would indulge another's ill-temper, and replied: " Sir, I was about to ask why you were preceding me. But I refrain because you lost your position in the assay office of the Knickerbocker Reduction Company to-day, and that has caused a state of mind which the judicious sympathise, not quarrel, with. Collins stared at the stranger, small, elight, elderly, but alert and well-pois-ed, before he asked in surprise: " How did you know that the company closed its assay office to-day, and that that throws me out of employment just as I- Well, how do you know anything about me?" "You show surprise. Why? You lost your place; that's a fact. That a fact should come to; my knowledge is less strange than "that it should not, since I deal in-facts.- Now the lines of anger fade from your brow and your looks improve. I, top,.am a person of presentable looks,-.so letus walk on together and discuss—facts." " At least, you are a merry person." said Collins, noting the smile with ■which the man had made this speech, "and though I am not likely to be one, I am glad enough to see one." The man was more than presentably dressed, rather, fashionably; spoke in his quaint precision, wixn the accent of an educated person—though plainly not a New Yorker—and had a manner not only well-bred, but peculiarly adapted to win confidence. They strolled on, Mortimore waiting for the other to explain. " Of course, it is not a commonplace of life that a stranger, met on the street by chance, should know more about us than our dress and expression tell to the casual observer. To be done with fancies: I learned of the loss of your position in a matter-of-fact way. I came to New York to transact some mining business " He had dropped his voice, hesitated, and now was silent for a few steps. He resumed with cautious tone: "Mr Collins, you've been in the assaying business long enough to know that it sometimes requires secrecy. For instance, when you were entrusted with those samples of rebellious ore shipped here from Panimint, California, you were especially cautioned to- "

"Oh, I sayl" interrupted Collins, laughing but bewildered. " Tell me who you are; how" you know about me and that Panimint ore, and we can go on from there more comfortably."

The man laughed softly, and looked at Mortimore admiringly. "You are the right sort," he said. "No mysteries with strangers. My card, sir. Now for a,frank story, for that is the only kind I liko to tell" or want to hear., A month or two ago 1 ! went over to Panimint to study their process for roasting rebellious ore. There I met—your smile anticipates the name—your classmate iu the Columbia School of Mines, Frank Hosmer. I had already planned this trip to <&"ew York, and asked Hosmer to recommend a careful aiid trustworthy man to do some work for me. He told me to go to the Knickerbocker people and stipulate that you should do the work. This morning I went thero, and in the outer office noticed some confusion. As I waited for a messenger to take my card to the manager, a young lady passed mo, going out. : She was in tears."

"Poor Gertrudo!" murmured Collins. The stranger leaned forward to catch the name, and then resumed: " The manager informed me that the New York office had been closed by the directors, and that you, for whom I inquired, had gone to the works in New Jersey with your books and papers, and would no longer be employed unless the directors rescinded their action." " They are pig-headed dolts!" Mortimore remarked, with ardour.

"The manager intimated some such fact—l'm fond of facts. 1 asked your address, called at your home, missed you, and waited in the neighbourhood to see you."

" And did Frank Hosmer give you such a good description of me that yon were able to tell'me at sight? " Collins asked, amused and curious. " I should be. less a man of the world than I am if I could not tell one who had just met such a reverse as has been yours, and who must now wait for a happy day he thought.this morning was near at hand." This with gentle sentiment, but watching Collins closely. Mortimore flushed, and said, laughing: "You're a queer lot, whoever yoTi are. What do you know of a happy day postponed?" "I will-not answer you," the stranger leplied, with his winning smile, " because one dislikes hearing of secret inquiries concerning oneself. I had to know something of your personal affairs, and, as what I know satisfies me, be content. " But to business. Dinner is business; will you dine with me where we may talk in comfort? Say at my hotel?" He mentioned a hotel which assured a good dinner, and Mortimore, who already felt his blues shading off in this cheery company, accepted the invitation—for Frank Hosmer's sake. They were soon seated at a dinner which the host ordered with a nice discrimination as to what the markets of New York afford for the fortunate.

"My name, as my card informs you, is John detriments," Collins's host said, when the .dinner had proceeded to its more substantial dishes. " I call myself a miner, though it might be well here to call myself a capitalist. That is no matter—but this Burgundy is excellent. I like- the plain old word 'miner,' and shall hold to it all my days, even if affairs should keep me here, far from my beloved mines. Your smile asks why I have sought you. That is well; I want to give you profitable employment .at, once. I will see that you receive some samples of ore which we want, assayed for gold and silver, and shall ask for your opinion as an expert as to the best process for the ore's reduction. Are you at liberty to undertake the work?" " It belongs to my profession, and I am—out of a job," Mortimore responded. John Clemments was a picture of a satisfied man as Be sat at dinner. He smiled richly, and spoke with the easy, redundant usb of words which never accompanies a spirit vexed or body troubled. Mortimore had had but ■mall experience' with men, and he felt his thanks due to Hosmer for directing such an agreeable person his way, even though the acquaintance should not profit him materially. Then he thought of Gertrude, and hoped that tEere would be more than a spiritual benefit in it. • " You have an office—laboratory—where one could work quietly, undisturbed? Free from curious observers? There may be some peculiarity about the work not understanded of the general. You follow me?" " I can work in the Columbia laboratory, where I studied. I'll not be bothered there."

"Excelent! The professors, instructors, demonstrators, pupils, what not, will assume that in your leisure you are conducting experiments in winch they are not concerned. Excellent! And this brandy! You do not care for it? I suppose that in fashionable circles the glass of Rood cognac has become neglected. But we old miners bring back to civilisation fond memories of luxuries of youth, and long for them. Now I tire you. To-morrow you will make your arrangements with alma mater,

and I will consult my principals, and in the evening we meet—here. Happy thought! "Why not give me the pleasure of meeting, witli a smile, on her face, the young lady 1 saw to-day with tears in her eyes? Indulge an old minor." Mortimore laughed as he thought how Gertrude would enjoy the experience, and he accepted the invitation for both. " Must you go? Wait: a trifle on account of your fee as an expert." He took a fifty-dollar bill from a pocketbook which bulged with the like, and gave it to Mortimore, saying, " Tomorrow evening at seven-thirty." Next, day, John Clemments called at the, office ot lawyers Bloom and Blow, agents of a syndicate considering the purchase of the Spanish Bayonet mine, and waiting on the report of Mr Bloom, who had visited the mine with Mr Clemnients. The latter asked if the samples o'f ore had been delivered from the express office. They had. " What assayer will you send them to?" Clemments asked. " To Mortimore Collins," declared Bloom, determinedly. " You' said you'd be satisfied with him, and he's all right; good family, and all that, I've learned." There was a touch of disappointment in Clcmmcnts's voice as he said, " Would it not be better to go to some established office rather than give the work to Collins, now that his office is closed?" "I don't suppose Collins has given up his profession, even if his employer has gone out of business," Bloom said, shrewdly. "Understand me, Mr Bloom; I am making no objection—particularly—to Collins. 1 only prefer an established office. Still, if you insist, I will look him up to-day and let you know where to send the samples." When Clemments left the office, Bloom turned to Blow and winked as ho said: " I take no chances. That fellow happened to mention on our way from Arizona that Collins was the best assayer Columbia ever turned out, and I made a memorandum of the name. Did you hear him try to switch me off to somebody else? I took all the ore samples myself, put them in gunny sacks, boxed them up and screwed down the lid. Nobody is going to fool me in this deal!" Clemments, having accomplished his purpose, which was to make sure that Bloom would employ Collins, met the young assayer at dinner in happy mood. His greeting of Gertrude was courtly, and in her honour ho composed a dinner which caused even the maitre d'hotel to mm ark that a man who knew how tc dine was in the restaurant at last. When Clemments learned that Gertrude, although she had been but a bookkeeper in the Knickerbocker Company's office, knew enough about Mortimoro's work to help him, and was going to do so in the new work, he was moved. Ho ordered more champagne, declared that there were phases of civilisation more cherished than even a good dinner in his lonely heart, and smiled so meaningly at the young couple that Gertrude blushed. She was uncommonly pretty when she blushed, and at all other times, which fact Clem ments noted with approving smiles for Mortimore. At times, when he looked at Gertrude, a wonted craftiness in his eyes left them and i:i its place came a grave reminiscent tenderness which would vanish with a sigh. When he had finished his second bottle, Clemments took from his pocket a long paper, and said : "Miss Croft, I am a lonely old miner; a wifeless, childless, homeless wanderer. There was once a lovely woman— — But •no; not at the festive board,! Accept this," and he put into her hands a, certificate for one thousand shares of the capital stock of the Spanish Bayonet Gold Mining Company of Arizona. Gertrude hesitated. "Take it, child," Clemments said, his voice trembling. "Take it, for if Mortimore finds that the ore assays well, somebody I know will have an income to satisfy easily tlie most exacting woman in the matter o f__] e t us say—in the matter of a trousseau." Gertrude's hands closed nervously, and the cortiiicate was in one of them. "That's right, child," her.host said, encouragingly. Ho signalled the waiter that the bottle was empty. " And, friend Mortimore, if I may so call you, the labourer is worthy of his hire." He handed a certificate for the same number of shares to Collins, who received it witn a smile not of gratitude; and as Clemments turned to see that the fresh bottle was opened, Mortimore winked to Gertrude and made, signs with his lips throwing doubts on the value of the gift. But she eagerly folded her certificate and crushed it into her reticule. "Children," remarked Clemments, after finding that the wine was cooled to his exacting demands, " I am gratified to bring the flush of thanks to the desert where none bloomed—l mean to say, that I shall sell to the syndicate but a control of the mine—fifty-one thousand out of one hundred thousand shares. You oblige me by accepting two thousand shares, leaving me yet with more than would satisfy visions of the vain. What, then, to a lonely old miner? Must}you go? To-morrow the samples'will be delivered to you, Mortimore. Be discreet, be cautious, be—be scientific. So long!" " A curious chap, but too clever to give away certificates worth anything," Mortimore remarked to his companion, as tney left the restaurant. "I think he's a dear!" responded Gertrude. "He would not give me a worthless certificate. How funnily he talks. But sometimes he had such—well, such a good look. I wish he had finished that figure of speech about my cheeks being a bloomless desert." The next day, there was delivered to Collins a heavy little box, fastened with screws and banded with iron, which he opened with difficulty, deciding that someone had taken great care to keep the contents from designing persons. Inside were a number of small oresacks, each sealed and labelled. As he handled the sacks, his nostrils were assailed by the pungent odour of chlorin. Many minerals havo distinctive odours, but none that Mortimore was familiar with had the odour, except salt undergoing certain treatment. " Chlorin, eh?" His nose turned up suspiciously; the more so as he recalled, with-a cynical smue, the gifts of certificates of stock. For two days, he worked at the college, and the result of his assays showed that the samples of ore carried gold in varying values, but none less than many thousands of dollars a ton ; and that the cloth of the sacks was marvellously rich, one stained and pungent scrap bearing gold at the rate of some hundreds of thousands of dollars a ton. "Alined, T should think," Mortimore mentally commented, " from the veritable field of the cloth of gold." The next day he told the janitor to bring him the box the samples had come in. "Perhaps the saw-mills are as auriferous in Arizona as the jutemills seem to be," ho thought. Two nights he had declined to dine with the lonely old miner. Gertrude had received invitations, too, and bunches of violets. On the third day came a'letter from Clemments saying that he was eager to learn the results of the assays, but would possess his soul with better patience if his dear young friend Mortimore would accept the enclosed. It was a certificate for five thousand shares of Spanish Bayonet stock. Collins presented it, together wit- his other certificate, to Gertrude, saying, "Not for its intrinsic value, but as an evidence of my high esteem for the natural marvels of Arizona." Gertrude ignored the humorous intent of her lover, and carefully folded the papers away with her other stock. Then the young assayer examined the box. In each side he found a small, neatly plugged gimlet-hole.

They could bo seen from the outside only by close inspection, but on the inside of the thick boards the displaced splinters sprung by the penetrating gimlet inr.de easily seen scars. Thus the swindling trick was disclosed to the investigator ; somoeno,—John Clemments?—had bored holes in the box after it had been closed and fastened, inserted a syringe charged with bichloricl of' gold, and enriched the ore—incidentally mineralising the burlap! Mortimore disliked to tell Gertrude of the discovery ho had made in her absence. She had maintained in tho face of his joking that Clemments was a gentleman, and she gravely believed hi the value of Spanish Bayonet stock. But he must report to Bloom and Blow; for thev, not Clemments, had sent him the samples. Ho would go there the next chiy and make his unpleasant disclosure. . ' At his home that evening he found a letter from Frank Hosmer which had been addressed to his former office, forwarded to tho New Jersey works, and in leisurely manner sent to his home address. "Dear Mort"—the letter ran—- " Some weeks ago a persuasive chap camo un here to Panimint and tried to interest some of our people in an Arizona property. He would havo succeeded had not one of my assistants recognised him as a clever mine-salter. John Clemments, as he is called, has, it seems, worked his gamo for years in the character of an old miner, but he docs not know the difference between an up-raise and a chute, or an incline and a cross-cut. A little later we heard that he had some Now York parties on the hook, and that a tenderfoot lawyer had come out to make an examination. Yo gods! men with monev to invest will hire that kind ot greenhorn to investigate while men like you are to be had. I should have thought little more of it had it not recurred to my mind that good old John Clemments, while hero, took a fatherly interest in stories of my college career, and hearing that my, college chum was with the Knickerbocker Company asked particularly about you, even cherished a remark 1 made about having just congratulated you on your engagement to mv cousin Gertrude—to whom my best regards. As I thought it over, 1 could see no innocent reason for such a man's interest in your affairs, and so decided to tip you off. But first I sent over to a fellow 1 know at a mine hear tho Spanish Bayonet, and told him to forward you a fair lot of samples of the average run of the ore in good John's niine. It's only a gopher-hole as yet, but my friend writes that it is not a, bad-looking prospect. By the way, if you do meet Clemments, write me what you think of him. Ho is certainly no common swindler, but probably one of the-gentleman-gambler characters still sometimes found in the South-west." The next morning, Mortimore presented a statement of the assays to Mr Bloom. The lawyer's eyes first bulged with excitement, then contracted with greed as ho gaaed at the figures; and after he had pored over them for some minutes, he looked/ up at Mortimore and said, hastily: "You recognise only us in this matter? We sent you the samples." " That is so," assented the assayer- " You are not to reveal to anyone, especially to John Clemments, the figures in this report. I must get all of that old smoothy's stock," he added to himself, but speaking aloud in his excitement. "He doesn't suspect how rich it is! He's said to be clever, but I'll show him a trick. And the syndicate, too!" Mortimore was doubly amazed; first by tho lawyer's purpose to overreach both the syndicate and Clemments, but more so that Bloom did not suspect the truth from the absurd figures of the report. He had less heart than a lew minutes before to expose Clenimonts, for the rascal before him was so much more repulsive than the rascal he must expose—and Gertrude liked Clements! But it had to , be done, and he told Bloom the story of tho trick revealed bv the box. Before he had half-finish-ed the tale, the fine lines of avarice in Bloom's face had twisted into snarls of boisterous rage. He whs in the height of an outburst against Clemment's perfidy, when that lonely old miner walked into the room. Bloom turned upon him a torrent of denunciation, which Clemments received with calmness; but when the lawyer raged of an intention to inform tho police, Clemments responded, in the manner of enjoying a joke: " I wasn't sure you were roady to see m'e a few minutes ago, so I waited outside, where 1 couldn't help overhearing your plan to do me and your clients out of our rights. If Mr Collins had been as crooked as you and 1, the trick would have been turned. Bu he was square. And I'm glad of it, because of something you wouldn't understand if I told you." " Oh," sneered Bloom, " I don't soanything in this report about fraud. Perhaps Collins first meant to aid your swindle. Ho was mighty slow about disclosing it." Possibly Mortimore. lacked a measure of spiritual ruggedness, but there was no scant in the measure of his physical courage. At the lawyer's last words he. sprang at him and clutched his throat, crying, "Retract that, or I'll break your neck !" John Clemments's right hand rested lightly under the skirt of his coat on something protruding from his hippocket, and his eyes followed with sure, quick dartings tho movements of Bloom's hands, until the lawyer sputtered an apology, and Mortimore left the office. He had walked a little way, excited and disgusted, when Clemments slipped an arm" through his and said: "My boy, I admire you for several reasons, but I'll only mention two: you are square and nervy. Now let's talk."

Mortimore shook himself free roughly, saying, " T don't know whether I'm more angry with you for trying to bribe me, or with myself for looking like a man who could be bribed." Clemments was pus/Jed. "Bribed?" he exclaimed. " I wanted you interested with me; wanted us to havo a community of interest, as they say here. If you had reported the assays as silly as they were, without saying anything about the/lope, your stock would have been worth a. small fortune. But T am glad yon were square with yourself. T am, surely." He was so simple, so wholly goodnatured, that Mortimore's anger would subside in spite of himself, and give place to curiosity. " Tf Frank Hosmer told you I was a thorough scientist, and not n-laboratory mechanic," he asked his companion,. " how could you Buppose "I'd not see so stupid a. game? Every man who has over attended a term of lectures in the course has heard stories of mine swindles by that bich-lorid-of-gold and S3*ringc trick. It's a stock story in the lecture-room." Clemments began to laugh softly, but was soon so shaken by mirth that he leaned against a building for support. "Oh." he gasped, "what a laugh the boys will have on me when they hear of this ! You are right; it is an old trick, though I have never tried it before. But that lawyer was so easy, and so crooked, that I chanced it. T didn't know much about the dope, and must have made the solution too strong in gold. And I had to work in a hurry one night while I was in the expresscar where the box of ore was, talking over things with the express-messenger, an old friend of mine. I suppose if I'd used a weaker dope, or less of it. von might have missed the trick, eh?" " And my professional reputation ruined when the fraud was discovered by someone else!" exclaimed Mortimore. * , ,-,/-„ "Perhaps not, commented Clemments, with a sudden grieved look.

"The mine may be all right for all I know. You see, I don't savvy the first thing about mines. Cards is my game. Mining's too slow, and there's too many chances against winning. But selling salted mines to suckers is a sure thing, mostly. I know so little about mines that I've salted good mines and sold 'em to parties who've got rich out of 'em. There was one property I passed on to an English syndicate, after salting it, which is now producing a hundred thousand a month, and I cleared but fifty thousand on that turn. Oh, 1 was swindled in that deal!" "Do vou know nothing about tho Spanish "Bayonet? The ore is pretty good-looking.'' "Not a blessed thing! I won it one night at poker from a miner, who traded a, Mexican two mules and a silver spur for it. Then I happened to run across this man Bloom, and I saw that he was easy, and let him have it—or tried to. " I'm not wasting sympathy on Bloom," said Mortimore. "What makes mo feel small is that you picked me out as one likely to help swindle him." . ...„-, " T never took your view or it, declared Clemments, earnestly. " Whether you salt a mine, or sell it natural, you put it up to the buyer as pretty a/; you can. Eh? That's what some of these silk-hat promoters are doing, as I look at it, with some high-toned-sounding trusts. Maybe I'm wrong as to them. But I am sorry you feel hurt. I am, surely. I like you; and as for that young ladv you are going to marry, why, I was thinking of her as much as of you when I hoped you'd not discover the dope, or overlook it, I was saying something the other night, when I d been drinking, about there being a lovely woman who once came into my life. " I'm sober now, and I tell you that there was a lovely woman, a good and pure woman, who cared for me. She looked like the lady you are going to marry." ) Ho spoke so gravely that Mortimoro could feel no resentment at his mention of Gertrude. "That's the worst thing about it, he .said. " I must tell Miss Croft. She believes in you." " But you're not going to tell her, Clemments said, confidently.

"I must." " You must not until I say so. I begin to see that it wasn't right for me to ring you into this without telling you what tho game was. Down my way it would be considered a favour to be let in on as good a thing—as Bloom. But you look at this sort of thing differently bore—some of you. So I don't want Miss Croft to know, yet." Mortimore changed the > subject: " Y/hy don't you have your mine examined, and see if you haven't got a property worth developing?" Clemments was thoughtfully silent beforo he answered. " I never considered that," he said. "It would be consoling in my old age to bo in on the game on the square. I'll send for some lof the rock, and you see what it is. _ ; " Hosmer sent me some," said Morti- ' I more. ... lt „ Clemments chuckled quietly. »o friend Hosmer thought my samples might be a trifle fancy, eh? Well, you assay 'em, and see what kind of a mine we've got." Mortimore did so, and found that the | Spanish Bayonet mine, as nature had endowed it, contained ore running from ton to twenty dollars a ton in gold. I "Would that pay to work?" asked j Clemments. simply. " Depends on conditions : how accessible by roads, how near rail transportation, where you get fuel and water, and how much it costs to get them, how expensive the milling would be—it acts like free-milling ore—-and, most of all, how wide your is and if it holds out as you go down." Clemments listened with increasing wonder at the young expert. " I never knew there were so many points in the game," ho remarked. " It's interesting, too, when you come to hear about it. I don't know about the things you ask, but you go downyand look it over. I'll advance your expenses and fees. If it looks like a good proposition, I'U make it easy for you to own a half interest." Mortimore was perplexed with doubts. Could he honourably accept such a commission from such a man? Clemments awoke to the moral points involved in the young man's mind, and answered them: "You and Miss;Croft dine with me to-night. I've an idea there's an honest streak left in me, and if .nere is, that young lady will see it. I don't know that I could be square according to your standards, but if she says I could I'll gamble she's right. Since I Ve seen her, and been reminded of«another good woman—one who cared for me when I was younger, and believed in me—l've been thinking it would sort of ease my mind to turn square ; to give up grafting ways, and lo what Miss Gertrude would say was right. Why? Well, I'm not as easy a talker about conscience and such things as about some other things, but I reckon if I ~deal my cards, after this according to what Miss Gertrude would approve, that other woman's soul, if it's keeping cases on me, might be comforted to know that at last I'm on the level. You leave this matter of being my partner to Miss Gertrude, after you've told her what my little game with Bloom was; but don't tell her until after dinner. Then, if you do go to the mine, we'll make a business arrangement of it. I've enough capital to develop it if you say to go ahead; but if you're going to keep out of the mining game until you find a partner who never tried to selba mine for more than it was worth—learn another profession."

They dined together that night, and the drank only water. With Gertrude he was skilful; he first fixed her interest by praise of Mortimore, then increased it by the manner and matter of his talk—of the mystery and wild beauty of the deserts and mountains of the far South-west. He made a point of finding her direct gaze and holding it steadily, and she never turned from meeting his eyes without a pleased smile.

On their way to her home, Mortimore told Gertrude all that he had learned about John Clemments and of the offer, and asked her, "What do you think of it?"

"Well. Morty," she sasely announced, after a considerable pause, " if half of that man isn't honest and the other half eager to be, T never saw an honest pair of eyes in my life. Of course it was very wicked, in him to try to cheat Mr Bloom, but,he'll never try to cheat me, and as you and I are to be one, T think you are safe in going to Arizona," The young lady's reasoning struck Mortimore as being more feminine than logical-—yet it sent him to Arizona. There,* as skilfully as he tested the ore they soon began to mill in liberal quantities, he unskilfully tested tho character of John Clemments.

" You'd be an easy proposition to beat in this game, Mortimer —leaving all the financing to me," Clemments said to him once. " But this mining deal has sort of dealt me out a new hand in morals. When I see that you'll accept any statement I make about our returns from the mint for our shipments of bullion, about our expenses, as to when we'll pay dividends, and never draw anything for yourself except for expenses, I say to myself: 'On the square, Joh* ! On the square for the good opinion of the woman who looks like the other.' But there's one confession I guess I'd better make, Mortimore: I've been corresponding with Miss Gertrude, and asked her not to tell you about it," "'You have, or?" laughed Mortimore. " Then T think it's about time for me to go back and get married." When Mortimore came home to marry Gertrude he said to her, " Ari-